Month: January 2017

Saturday marks the lunar New Year, or Chinese New Year, which will be celebrated for seven days around the world. The coming year is the year of the rooster. “Roosters” are hard-working, courageous, and talented, among other traits. Other roosters were born in 1921, 1933, 1945, 1957, 1969, 1981, 1993, and 2005.

Although this may not be a holiday that you celebrate personally, chances are you have colleagues, co-workers, clients, or friends who celebrate it.

Many large cities hold New Year’s celebrations, which represent great opportunities to attend and participate. Acknowledging the holiday can be a way to not only expand your relationships, but to learn about traditions that may not be familiar to you.

How do you develop your relationships? Do you have a conscious plan to see them, interact with them, or reach out on their behalf? How frequently are you in touch?

The answers to these questions today are different than even five years ago. I surveyed a few people recently, and two people’s responses were representative of the others. One person said, “Of course – I just texted her” and another offered, “I’m sure they saw my Facebook page, so they know what I’m up to.”

You know where I’m going with this. Although texting or posting on Facebook are in much wider usage today, it is shortsighted to think that these are the best ways to stay in touch.

People get so caught up in their day to day routines that sometimes they don’t notice if a co-worker is struggling. It could be someone who has suffered a loss or is recovering from an illness or is care taking an elderly parent.

The reason doesn’t matter. What matters is what we do about it. This is especially important if it’s an intense job environment and the people experiencing these challenges are normally self-starters who get everything done well and on time. You think that they can handle the additional pressure, but they’re human, too.

Leaders need to step forward and make sure that people in these circumstances are supported so that their potentially fragile state doesn’t trigger a downward spiral.

Happy New Year! I hope you enjoyed the holidays and are back in the swing of things rarin’ to go (or, at least back in the swing of things….).

Most people make some sort of New Year’s resolutions. And many of those resolutions have drifted down the priority list already. I believe that the difference in outcome is based on how you go about implementing your “resolution strategy”.